School of Social Work

Beth Angell’s social work story actually starts with a chapter focused on psychology. “I have to admit that I had never met a social worker or understood what one was until I was in college,” says Angell, Ph.D., who became dean of the VCU School of Social Work in the summer of 2018. SOCIAL WORK […]

As the new VCU School of Social Work dean prepared to start her job, she took stock of several key challenges. SOCIAL WORK MONTH: 2021: ORIGIN STORIES How could the program work more collaboratively with other academic units to offer more educational opportunities that cut across related disciplines? How could the school provide better access […]

VCU School of Social Work Professor Kia J. Bentley, Ph.D., LCSW, has spent 35 years conducting research around how the social work field can be responsive to client and family dilemmas centered around the use of psychiatric medication. But it was only with a recent study, published in Community Mental Health Journal, that she took […]

VCU social work alum Sara Van Tongeren, Rev. Jennifer Adams and Jeffrey Sorenson received social justice awards from the city of Holland, Michigan, in January. For VCU School of Social Work alum Sara Van Tongeren (M.S.W.’08/SW), a “surreal” seven-hour city council meeting in August 2020 was delayed gratification for the passage of a long-awaited nondiscrimination […]

Originally published in VCU’s December 2020 Impact magazine. Ebony Mack (M.S.W.’18/SW) couldn’t help but exclaim. She had just received an email, in 2017, naming her the first recipient of the VCU School of Social Work’s Fostering Success Scholarship. “I think I was at work, and it came through. ‘Oh my, I got a scholarship!’ I […]

The roots go back nearly three decades for three VCU School of Social Work scholarships that honor two former faculty members and an alumna. Family and friends have supported the legacy of these loved ones – and made a significant difference in the lives of current social work students – through the Pamela B. Nystrom Memorial […]

Sherry Peterson (M.S.W.’73/SW) knew what a successful fundraising campaign looked like. Katharine Webb (M.S.W.’73/SW) was as connected an alumna as you could hope to find. Together, the VCU School of Social Work classmates – along with Sherry’s husband and fellow classmate, Bill (M.S.W.’73/SW) –  formed the perfect team, serving as volunteer chairs for the school’s […]

After earning his master’s degree at the VCU School of Social Work, Ira Colby, D.S.W. (M.S.W. ’75/SW), did a little bit of everything to make ends meet as a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. When a federal grant fell through a month before classes started, he took out student loans, worked with faculty […]

Stephanie Odera, Ed.D., keeps writing new chapters at the VCU School of Social Work. The two-time social work graduate (B.S.W.’04/SW; M.S.W.’06/SW), who also earned her doctorate of education from VCU in 2018, rejoined the school in October 2020 as the new director of field education. She has previously served at the school as an adjunct […]

Joyce Beckett, Ph.D., laughs heartily and acknowledges that, yes, after all these years she is still an “autumn.” Beckett, who retired as professor in 2005 after 20 years at the VCU School of Social Work, is explaining how she became friends with Rita Schleuter (M.S.W.’88/SW) – and why she chose to fund a scholarship in […]